This invention relates to an improvement of coffee bean grinders, and specifically to safety switches for use with those grinders. These grinders accept whole coffee beans and process them into coffee grinds, disposing of those grinds by means of a discharge chute into a bag or other suitable container. Due to the use of these grinders by the general public, especially in grocery stores, it is necessary that these grinders have a safety switch to prevent accidental operation.
In the past, safety switches have been employed successfully on coffee bean grinders. These switches are actuated by a gravity biased pivot arm which pivoted at a location above the area at which the bag engaged the pivot arm. The patent of Zimmerman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,200, and the patent of Nidiffer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,624, disclose such a pivot arm mechanism. Due to the position of the pivot point, the pivot arm required the application of a sizable force to actuate the switch. Bags, or other containers, having strong construction and thick walls were easily able to apply the necessary force to the pivot arm in order to actuate the switch.
Presently, however, those expensive, thick-walled bags have been replaced by inexpensive plastic bags. These plastic bags do not have the stiffness or resiliency of the previous bags, and are incapable of applying the necessary force to the pivot arm to actuate the safety switch. Therefore, a person operating the grinder is prone to apply excessive force to the bag, causing it to deform. A deformed bag reduces the effectiveness of the grinder, and impairs the proper operation of the grinder, and could compromise the safe operation of the grinder.